WGIN management meeting
16th February 2011, KWS, Thriplow
MINUTES
Attendees:
Peter Shewry, Elke Anzinger, Mike Grimmer, Malcolm Hawkesford, John Foulkes,
Kim Hammond-Kosack, Claire Fremann, Stephen Smith, Matt Kerton, David
Feuerhelm, Peter Jack, Simon Berry, Lesley Smart, Farhana Amin, Simon Griffith,
Peter Werner, Richard Weightman
Apologies:
Jayne Brookman, Keith Edwards, Simon Penson, Richard Summers, Andy Phillips,
Neil Paveley
Welcome – Peter Shewry
Objectives 2, 3 and 4 - Tools and Resources - Simon Griffiths Power Point
presentation (001 SG WGIN February 2011, KWS)
Additional Information:
Q: How many backcrosses do you have to do get homozygosity?
A: For the perfect backcross you would need eight to nine backcrosses. In this case
we did two backcrosses.
Q: Will the data on NILs be available on the website?
A: Yes. It will include information on parents. Elke will put it on the website in
February.
Additional information: Everything on Watkins SSD is IP free.
Q: Is the Watkins SSD population planted in 1m2 plots right now?
A: Yes. We’ve planted over 1000 plots.
Q: Why did you choose Garcia for the Paragon x Garcia cross?
A: It was chosen because it is known to be drought insensitive. It is a southern
European variety.
Q: Will seeds from the NIL lines be available?
A: Yes, but this depend on the amount we have in stock at any given time.
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Q: Can we have access to the sequence data on Rht8?
A: This data comes from a current PhD project. We should be able to make it
available on request.
Q: Why is there all this interest in Rht8?
Comment: Rht8 is in a cassette with PPd and could possibly have a big dwarfing
effect. There has been a reasonable dwarfing effect in Paragon with Rht8.
Comment: The Australians are also interested in this. It might be linked to water
access.
Q: Have you identified the gene.
A: No.
Q: Will it be on at least 3 alleles.
A: Possibly.
Q: How far have you got with the development of new populations?
A: All new WGIN populations are now done.
Q: From where is the variety Garcia?
A: It is grown in southern France and Spain, probably a Spanish variety.
Q: Is it an old variety that is no longer being grown?
A: No it is not that old.
Q: What is the ideal use for the specific populations?
A: The Paragon x Synthetic population is likely to be good for introgression. The
Paragon x Chinese Spring population is good for mapping. Ian Bancroft is working
on the Paragon transcriptome.
Q: What is the seed availability for Garcia?
A: When we do the crosses we bag the parents, so we do have seeds of the original
parents. We received the original Garcia seeds from Peter Jack. We will multiply
Garcia seed.
Comment: We are doing Garcia multiplication. We need to look at the phenotype.
Comment: Some phenotype data is already available.
Objective 7 – Insect Resistance – Lesley Smart Power Point presentation (002
LS WGIN February 2011, KWS)
Additional Information:
We looked at the effect of UK aphid species on 17 genotypes of the Spark x Rialto
population. We recorded at different time intervals where the aphids settled, the
aphids were given the choice of one Spark x Rialto line and the standard Solstice.
No significant differences were measured, but line SR120 was very susceptible to
Rhopalosiphum padi. It has been noted that hairier varieties are less susceptible, but
light microscopy studies we have carried out did not confirm this. Other possibilities
for susceptibility could be morphology of leaf wax or volatile production.
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Q: What about resistance in Russian wheat aphid?”
A: some of the SR lines challenged with Russian wheat aphid (RWA) showed some
resistance. However, it is not known if resistance was due to a specific RWA
resistance gene. RWA resistance genes do not usually affect Rhopalosiphum padi
and did not in this case. RWA develops biotypes that can overcome single
resistance genes. It is found in many areas of the world, but not yet in the UK. It has
toxic saliva that can kill susceptible plants.
Objective 8 – NUE and QTLs linked to NUE – Malcolm Hawkesford Power Point
presentation (003 MH WGIN February 2011, KWS)
Additional Information:
People are welcome to come and measure trait in the diversity and AxC trials. At
RRes nearly all traits studied are non-WGIN funded. WGIN funds the planting of the
trial and the study of core traits.
We are measuring many different data types for QTLs. We also have to take into
account yearly differences. We have also found that the soil at the Woburn site is
more difficult (diverse?). There are also practical limitations for carrying out
measurements at the Woburn site.
For the AxC population we are planning one more trial at low and another trial at
high N.
Q: Do yield and height QTLs cross correlate?
A: We have not checked.
Comment: There now is specific software available that can take out height effects.
Q: Do you have data on 1000 grain weights?
A: Yes.
Comment: On the root studies we have decided on rolled up paper tubes, as
hydroponics proved too difficult to scale up. We are measuring root length, diameter
and volume, but not branching.
Q: Have you measured seed size for the root study?
A: We have 100 grain weights and germination was synchronised.
Objective 9 - Drought tolerance - John Foulkes
Power Point presentation (003 JF WGIN November 2010 RRes)
Additional information:
In the 2010 trial we had drought around anthesis (7-10 June) and again during the
mid and late grain filling period.
We’ve found that the cooler the canopy after anthesis the better is the yield.
All data shown is from unirrigated plots.
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In the study of flag leaf senescence we will add additional parameters such as onset
and length of senescence correlated to biomass and yield to data analysis.
The Licor analyzer is very much in use and another one has been ordered for the
LoLa project.
The field trial for objective 2 has been planted at JIC and trickle irrigation is being put
in at the moment.
Measurements done for objective 4 are high throughput. A visual score on
senescence has been carried out on the Watkins collection in 2010.
Objective 10 – Take-all disease – Kim Hammond-Kosack Power Point
presentation (004 KHK WGIN November 2010 RRes)
Additional information:
The DarT marker data has now been published in BMC Genomics.
We have found that the MDR F1 crosses have larger grains.
All introgressions are done in a high quality glasshouse environment.
Q: Have you looked into origin of Watkins lines in relation to Take All susceptibility?
A: We will do this after the 3rd year of studies.
Update on ADAS Subcontractor project – Richard Weightman/Simon Griffiths
Additional information:
SCRI has provided the samples. Calibration has been completed.
We work on whole grain.
Q: Would the same calibrations work on white flour as well?
A: [RW] This has not been tested the aim was to develop non-destructive tests.
Q: What about viscosity? Could your method pick this up?
A: [RW]Yes with the reference method from the Scotch whisky institute, we have
developed the calibration. It is not possible to say whether it detects arabinoxylans or
soluble proteins, or a mixture of both, The main point is that we have a tool which
might be able to identify the most diverse genotypes.
Q: Why are the samples all high in protein?
A: [SG] Paragon has been spring drilled and it was a dry year.
Q: What was the quality of the seeds you used?
A: [SG] They were plump seeds that gave reasonable yields.
We expected to see a higher gliadin content compared to total protein.
Comment: Maybe this is due to the weather conditions or maybe it is a feature of
Paragon (Paragon is a spring wheat, but the calibrations are built on winter wheats
and the reference dataset is dominated by soft wheats).
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The problem with completing the project is that we need to employ a student at JIC
to scan the remaining samples, but failed to get the necessary approval from BBSRC
Swindon.
Comment: If BBSRC cannot resolve this issue with casuals, ADAS could employ a
casual to carry out testing at JIC and pay them as an ADAS ‘fee-paid’ member of
staff, rather than transferring the money to JIC under a subcontract.
I’m concerned about payment if we over-run beyond 31st March 2011.. Will there be
a problem with payment if the project runs into the next tax year?
A: No, this is not a problem at all. We can pay in the next tax year once the project is
completed.
Update on Nottingham Subcontractor project – John Foulkes
For isotype analysis a 2mg sample was sent for analysis for each plot.
Q: What about replication?
A: The standard error for this type of analysis is small. Every 10th sample is a
replicate.
Ash content analysis is used a lot because it is a cheap method.
Comment: There must be a soil factor that has an influence on the data with this
analysis. It would be interesting to compare the data from ash content analysis with
the results from the isotype study.
CIMMYT Seeds of Discovery proposal – Simon Griffiths
Additional information:
The CIMMYT seeds of discovery project is looking for collaborators. For the UK
projects that already have DFID/Gates support for part of their expenses are
specifically encouraged to apply to the seeds of discovery project.
Dave Marshall is going to be involved with the Bioinformatics side of the project.
Pratylenchus resistance from the Watkins population has been used in Australia.
Discussion – Review of the June 2007 breeder’s priority traits list
Comment: It would be interesting to check whether there is a genetic component to
the yield gap that is being observed in the UK between RL trials and on farm.
Comment: Hybrids are also interesting.
Comment: FERA is concerned about Magnaporthe species. They are a problem in
Brazil and could become an issue in the UK with warmer climate.
Comment: What about quality of spent grain for animal feed? TSB is supporting this
at the moment.
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A: There is a LINK project on low viscosity protein going on at the moment. We will
have the outcome on this in 2-3 years time.
Comment: Yield stability to abiotic stresses
Comments: Hybrids might require public sector to take the lead. It is a high risk area
of research with high potential.
Comment: Stability of quality is also very important.
Comment: Thank you for all the “public sector” comment on traits. The breeders will
have to meet again separately to discuss this and update WGIN at the next
management meeting, together with an inventory of project that are going on at the
moment.
Comment: Once we have the feedback from the breeders we could organise a traits
meeting with experts from the specified fields.
Cereals 2011 JIC and RRes stand
WGIN, both the JIC and RRes team, will be exhibiting at the RRes stand at Cereals
this year. JIC will plant NILs and RRes will plant contrasting lines of the AxC
population, all annotated with traits boards. There will also be plots of T.
monococcum and hexaploid wheat infected with Take All.
AoB
Plant Science Federation:
There was a meeting on the Plant Science Federation at NIAB with members of the
industry, BSPB, SEB etc. The husband of Karin Metzlaff from EPSO was also at the
meeting (Michael Metzlaff). It was proposed to form a group under the Society of
Biology. They have several groups like this, for example one for animal biology. The
main part will be to form a small working party for lobbying. Tina Barsby and Peter
Shewry will represent the Cereal community. To join the Plant Science Federation
people will have to join the Institute of Biology at a small fee. It was also proposed to
have an annual meeting, but not to replace the Monogram meeting.
Monogram reorganisation:
The Monogram steering group will meet to decide on measures to make the
organisation of Monogram more democratic.
LoLa:
The LoLa agreement has now been signed. It will include a fulltime project
assistant/management post based at JIC.
Report back from phenotyping workshop:
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Recently a 1.5 day field phenotyping workshop took place at Rothamsted Research .
It was decided to develop a mobile system (tractor/combine based) for data
collection. Martin Parry is coordinating this. There will be a full report on this at the
next Monogram workshop in April at the University of Nottingham.
International meetings:
BBSRC-Embrapa will meet in May at Londrina in Brazil. The UK will be represented
by BBSRC scientists and university researchers. Wheat researchers from the
different wheat growing areas will be present at the meeting. Brazil is particularly
interested in wheat blast and the UK specialist on wheat blast, Nick Talbot, will also
be at the meeting.
Peter will try to arrange a meeting with the North American wheat workers for 2012.
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